China's major steel prices plunge to multi-year lows
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MySteel Global: China's prices of major steel products continued the downtrend over 12-16 August, as sentiment in the domestic steel market remained weak overall with poor performance of major ferrous futures and dull demand from downstream steel-users, Mysteel Global learned.
Rebar: As of 16 August, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment came in at yuan 3,205/tonne ($448/t) including the 13% VAT, losing by yuan 134/t on week and marking its lowest level since 28 November, 2016.
Last Friday, the most-traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for delivery in October closed the daytime trading session at yuan 3,078/t, sliding by yuan 208/t in total compared to the settlement price on 9 August. In the international market, SGX Mysteel Shanghai rebar futures closed at $420/t on 16 August for the main September contract.
Transactions of construction steel in the physical market slackened last week, as end-users were cautious about placing new orders with negative sentiment pervading the market, Mysteel Global noted. Over 12-16 August, the daily trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses under Mysteel's regular survey averaged 94,887 tonnes/day, falling by 9.1% from the previous week.
Billet: The price of Tangshan Q235 150mm square billet in North China's Hebei province under Mysteel's assessment lost ground to yuan 2,860/t EXW and including the 13% VAT on 16 August, lower by yuan 210/t on week, as downstream re-rollers were inactive in buying more semis after noting the thin sales of finished steel.
HRC: China's average price of Q235 4.75mm hot-rolled coil (HRC) nationwide was assessed by Mysteel at yuan 3,184/t including the 13% VAT on 16 August, dropping by yuan 240/t from one week earlier.
Market participants showed no confidence in HRC prices given the high-level supply against poor demand. HRC inventories at the warehouses in the 55 Chinese cities under Mysteel's weekly survey accumulated continuously to 5.09 million tonnes (mnt) as of 15 August, higher by another 3.3% on week.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between MySteel Global and BigMint.